Machine and method of making reinforced sheet material



M. R. HARRISON.

MACHINE AND METHOD OF MAKING REINFORCED SHEET MATERIAL. APPLICATIONFILED AUG-14,19I6- RENEWED JUNE 13, I9I9.

1,325,091 Patented Dec. 16,1919.

2 SHEET S-SHEET I.

/ m amwwo M. R. HARRISON. MACHINE AND METHOD OF MAKING REINFORCED SHEETMATERIAL. APPLICATION FILED AUG-14,19I6- RENEWED JUNE 13 1919.

1,325,091. Patented Dec. 16,1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- UNITED stares PATENT carton.

MARY R.v HARRISON, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

MACHINE AND METHOD OF MAKING REINFORCED SHEET MATERIAL.

' Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 16, 1919.,

Application filed August 14, 1916, Serial No. 114,720. Renewed June 13,1919. Serial No. 304,082. I

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MARY R. HARRISON, of Boston, in the county ofSufiolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Machines and Methods of Making Reinforced SheetMaterial, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the manufacture of reinforced paper, bycombining with the web of pulp, before it is dried, strands of materialsuch as strings or wire.

In Letters Patent 1,195,919 and 1,195,951 granted to me August 22, 1916,I illustrate and claim a method and machine for reinforcing sheetmaterial such as paper after the latter has been manufactured. One ofthe objects of my present invention is to provide a .method and machinesimilar thereto in principle but which effects the combination ofstrands and paper during the manufacture of the latter.

Another object is to provide improvements whereby the transverse strandswill be kept under such tension until united with the web or paper thatin the finished product the strands will be straight from end to end.

To these ends, my invention consists in the method and machinesubstantially as hereinafter described and claimed.

Of the accompanying drawings, in which I have not attempted toillustrate details of the driving mechanism for my improvements becausesuitable mechanism for that purpose is disclosed in said patents Figure1 is a side elevation of suflicient portions of a paper making machineto illustrate a suitable location for my improvements in such machine.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the essential portions of my improvements, on alarger scale than Fig. 1, and centrally broken out to reduce width ofthe figure.

Fig. 3 represents a section on line 33 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 1 is a somewhat skeletonized view illustrating a modificationhereinafter described.

Similar reference characters indicate similar parts in all of the views.

All paper making machines comprise what are technically known as the wetpart and the. dry part, the wet part forming a Web of soft, moist, pulpwhich, after leaving the felt, passes between press-rolls and then tothe receiving drier or drum of the dry part. From the felt to thereceiving drier .the web of soft moist pulp travels unsupported adistance which varies in different machines, but the space is sufiicientfor the introduction of my improvements.

Referring first to Figs. 1, 2'and '3, the frame-work of a paper makingmachine is indicated at 12, the last press rolls at 13, and the firstdrier drum, or receiving drier, at 14. The web of pulp a travels fromrolls 13 to receivmg drier 14 between a pair of devices 15, which, forbrevity of description, I term fingers. These fingers serve two purposesas presently described. They are carried by brackets 16 suitablyconnected with the frame and are in the plane of, and closely ad acentto, the edges of the web 0;. Each. finger has a strand conveyer, such asa fine chain 17, mounted on sprockets 18, and said. chains may be drivenby suitable gearing connections such as in my Patent 1,195,951 so thatthe outer stretches of the two chains will more in the same direction,and at the same speed as, the. web a. The object of these conveyers isto prevent the transverse strands b, which are wrapped around the web aand the fingers as presently described, from binding along the outeredges of the fingers and interfering with their being drawn or fedalong.

One or more carrier chains 19 (two being shown in F igs. 1 and 2) aremounted on sprockets 20 carried by shafts 21, one of which is driven byany suitable gearing so that strands Z), from. spools mounted onspindles 22 carried by the chains, will be wrapped around the fingersand the web 0; traveling between said fingers. The strands Z) passhrough guides 22 carried by the chains. In practice, the chains areprovided with suitable clip bearings for the spindles so that the spoolsmay be quickly replenished without stopping the machine. To support theweight of the carrier chains and the spools carried thereby, suitabletrack guides 23 are provided.

In order that the strands will be pressed snfficiently into the web toadhere thereto and be carried through the dry part of the machine, theweb and strands pass between a pair of small rolls 24 which are mountedof the web and the finger chains 17.

once introduced.

to press the web with only sufficient force to embed the strands in theweb. The free ends of the fingers 15 extend far enough past the nip ofthe rolls 241 to insure the carrying of the strands to .a point wherethey will be acted upon by said rolls before leaving the advancinginfluence of the feed chains 17 of the fingers.

The transverse strands are held straight and under tension until theyare combined with the web, due to the fact that they are not deliveredfrom the free ends of the fingers until they have been gripped by thepressing rolls 2%. Obviously transverse strands which are slack and moreor less sinuous impart no material tensile strength to paper or othersheet material. The structure described prevents any slackening of thestrands b, so that the tension under which they are wound around therigid fingers will be retained until control thereof 15 taken by therolls 24.

The tranverse strands are not laid at a right angle to the edges of theweb a, but are spiral relatively to the web, this being due to thetravel or advancing movement The degree of obliquity of the strands willdepend upon the speed of travel of the carrier chains 19 relatively tothe speed of movement of the web a, and this also, in connec tion withthe number of spools of strands Z), controls the spacing of the strands.With sufiicie-nt spools and with their speed of travel the same as thatof the web, the transverse strands will extend across the web at anangle of 45 degrees, all of those on one surface being separate fromeach other and straight from end to end, but at a right angle to thoseon the other surface.

For many purposes it is desirable to have strands extendinglongitudinally of the web, parallel with its edges. For this purpose Iprovide suitable supports 25 for spools or cops of strands c which leadthrough easily threaded guides 26 carried by a bar 27, said strandsbeing simply drawn from the sources of supply by the action of rolls 2%and the driers, after the ends of such strands are The supports and barsfor these longitudinal strands may be so located that said strands willbe laid either above or under the transverse strands Z).

I have not attempted to show or describe many of the details of thedriving mechanism, and framework or supports therefor, as the same willvary more or less according to different types or structures ofpapermaking machines with which my improvements may be combined.

Instead of laying the strands on both surfaces of the web a, they mayall be laid on one surface. For instance, as illustrated in Fig. 4:, thefingers or supports for the strands 72 need not be wholly in the samefor a sufficient distance to afford clearance for the travel of thecarrier chains 19 and the spools of strands b, but the free ends of thefingers and their feed chains 17 extend far enough past the nip of rolls24- to insure the feed of the strands to a point where they will beacted upon by said rolls in the manner hereinbefore described, becauseat the point of nip of said rolls the web a is in the same plane as thefingers. As indicated in said Fig. t, the fingers 15 of this form holdthe strands under tension until control is taken by the rolls 24, in thesame manner as described in connection with Figs. 1 and 2. It will bereadily understood, of course, that longitudinal strands may also besupplied in a manner already described, if the structure is such asillustrated in Fig. 4.

When the strands b are of a nature to cause a shrinkage when wet, theycontract after being laid in the web a. \Vhatever surplus remains at theedges of the web when the latter leaves the dry part of the machine, isremoved as the result of the usual trimming of the edges. This leavesthe strands on one surface of the paper entirely separate from thestrands on the other surface. For some uses, however, when it is desiredthat the paper shall have loops at the edges, the paper will not betrimmed.

A particular use for paper reinforced as described is for the productionof strong corrugated paper. Such sheet material comprises a corrugatedsheet and one or two flat sheets adhesively secured to its ridges orribs. When paper made as herein explained is employed for the flatsheets as described in Letters Patent 1,195,950 granted to me August 22,1916, in the completed product the strands Z) will cross the ribs of thecorrugated sheet at an acute angle and be adhesively secured to saidribs.

I do not limit myself to the manufacture of reinforced paper havingstrandmaterial connected thereto solely by being embedded therein. It isobvious that the material produced as so far described may have coveringsheets applied thereto adhesively. For instance such a covering sheetmay be supplied directly under the upper roll 24 shown in Fig. 4 so thatthe network of strands will be located between the web a and suchcovering. ()r a web of pulp may pass to a second paper-making machinehaving both a wet part and a dry part, whereby the strands-are entirelycovered by additional plies of pulp.

Also I do not limit myself to the employment of a single carrier for thetransverse strands. In such machines as have sufficient space betweenthe wet part and the dry part, or in such machines as may be speciallydesigned to provide sufficient space, I

.ing material.

may provide a plurality of such winders and drive them in the same or inopposite directions as explained in my Patent No. 1,195,951.

Furthermore, I do not limit myself to the manufacture of reinforcedpaper of the specific character so far mentioned. The web a may be of amaterial which, when finished, would not be termed paper, but would be,for instance, felt, or sheet. asbestos, or roof- In fact-the mechanismillustrated in the drawings, especially that of Fig. 4 when a coveringsheet is employed as described, is adapted for producing reinforcedsheet material of' widely varying character other than a web in pulpform.

The chains 19 constitute traversing mechanism which carries the threadguides 22 laterally beyond the ends of the rolls 2 as shown by comparingFigs. 2 and 3. The fingers 15 are so located that they constitutelateral thread engaging means adjacent the ends of the rolls so as tolongitudinally guide the bights of threads received from said traversingmechanism.

I also do not limit myself to an arrangement/of the supporting devicesor "fingers in the same plane as the web, even when the strands, are tobe wrapped around the web. For instance, instead of having said devicesin the same plane as the web as shown in Fig. 3, the edges of the webmay travel just underneath said fingers, so long as the 1 outer edges ofthe fingers are spaced slightly farther apart than the distance betweenthe edges of the web, so that the wrapping strands will not collapse theweb. Such an. arrangement provides for less waste of strand material tobe trimmed ofi, than when the supporting devices are mounted relativelyto the web asshown in Fig. 3.

Having now described my invention, I claim:

. 1. The method of making reinforced paper, consisting in forming a webof pulp, laying uncut strand material continuously across both surfacesof the web after the latter is formed and while'it is traveling'inthedirection of its length, feeding the web and the strand material, afterthe latter is laid across the former in the same direction, anckl)pressing the strand material into the we 2. The method of makingreinforced paper, consisting informing a web of pulp, continuouslylaying a series of stretches of strand material across both surfaces ofthe web after the latter is formed and while it is traveling, pressingsaid stretches into the web, and holding said stretches taut untilpressed into the web.

3. The method of making reinforced sheet material, consisting in feedinga web of sheet material in the direction of its length, formingtransverse coils of strand material under tension and shifting said'coils laterally in a direction and at a speed coinciding with thedirection and speed of the web, uniting the strand material and web,holding the coils under tension until united with the web, and thenremoving the tension.

4. The method of making reinforced paper, consisting in wrapping strandmaterial around a web of pulp, preventing collapse of the web duringsaid wrapping, and pressing the strand material into the web.

5. The method of making reinforced paper, consisting in completelyforming a web of pulp, then applying longitudinal and transverse strandsto both surfaces of saig Web, and pressing the strands into the we 6.The method of making reinforced paper, consisting in wrapping strandmaterial around a web of pulp, preventing collapse of the web duringsaid wrapping, supplying other strand material parallel with the edgesof the web, and pressing the strand material into the web.

7. A machine for reinforcing a Web of sheet material comprising meansfor advancing the web, continuously operating feeders movable in thesame general direction as the web,-means for wrapping strand materialaround the feeders, said feeders having free ends to permit the strandmaterial to be delivered therefrom, and means for uniting the strandmaterial and web, said feeders extending past the uniting means toretain the strand material under tension until it is united with theweb.

8. A machine for assembling strand material with a web of sheetmaterial, comprisin means for feeding the web in the directlon of itslength, means for drawing the strand material continuously in adirection transverse of the web, means for shifting said strand materialby a movement coinciding with the direction of movement of the web,means for uniting the strand material and web, and means for holding thestrand material under-tension until it is united ,with the web.

9. A machine of the character described comprising means for causing aweb of pulp to travel in the direction of its length, a strand carriermovable around the webto wrap a strand spirally about it, and means forpressing the strand material into the web of pulp.

10. A machine of the character described comprising means for causing aweb of pulp to travel in the direction of its length, a strand carriermovable around the web to wrap a strand spirally about it, means forleading other strand materialin the direction of travel of said web, andmeans for pressing the strand material into the web of pulp.

11. A machine of the character described comprising means for causing aweb of pulp to travel in the direction of its length, a strand carriermovable around the web to wrap a strand spirally about it, means forpreventing collapse of the web by the strand material, and means forpressing the strand material into the web of pulp.

12. A machine of the character described comprising a pair of supportshaving free ends, means for wrapping strand material around saidsupports, means for causing a web of sheet material to travel betweensaid supports, and means for uniting the strand material with the web.

13. A machine of the character described comprising a pair of supportshaving free ends, means for wrapping strand material around saidsupports, means for causing a web of sheet material to travel betweensaid supports, and means for uniting the strand material with the Web,said supports having flexible traveling means for preventing the strandmaterial from binding on the supports.

14. A machine for making reinforced paper, comprising a wet part and adry part having a space across which the web travels from one to theother, and means for winding strand material around the web on its wayacross said space.

15. A machine for making reinforced paper, comprising a wet part and adry part iaving a space across which the web travels from one to theother, means for wind-' ing strand material around the web on its- Wayacross said space, and means for preventing the web from being collapsedby the strand material.

16. A machine for making reinforced paper, comprising a Wet part and adry part having a space across which the web travels from one to theother, means for winding strand material around the web on its wayacross said space, and means for preventing the web from being collapsedby the strand material, said means comprising a pair of fingers havingfree ends in the plane of the web and adjacent its edges.

17.- A machine for reinforcing sheet material with a network of strandmaterial, comprising a pair of stationary fingers or supports havingfree ends, means for causing a plurality of strands to travel betweensaid fingers or supports, means for wrapping other strands around saidfingers or supports, and means for uniting the stands and sheetmaterial.

18. A machine for reinforcing a web of sheet material with a network ofstrand material, comprising a pair of stationary fingers or supportshaving free ends, means for causing a plurality of strands to travelbetween and parallel with said fingers or supports, means for wrappingother strands around said fingers or supports, and means for uniting thestrands and sheet material, flexible traveling means being provided forpreventing the strand wrappings from binding on said fingers orsupports.

19. In a machine for reinforcing sheet material, a pairof press rolls,means for supplying sheet material to the nip of said rolls, means forguiding strand material in a path substantially parallel .With the axesof the rolls, and substantially rigid guides for delivering said strandmaterial to the nip of therOllS.

20. In a machine for reinforcing sheet material, a pair of press rolls,means for supplying sheet material to the nip of the rolls, means forsupplying longitudinal strand material to the nip of the rolls, means,for guiding strand material in a transverse path relatively to thelongitudinal strands, and means lndependent of the longitudinal strandsfor holding the transverse strand material in taut condition untildelivered to said rolls.

21. In a machine for reinforcing sheet material, a pair of press rolls,means for su plying sheet material to the nip of the. rolls, and meansfor forming continuous strand material into transverse connected lengthsunder sufficient tension to hold them straight and means for keeping auniform tension on-said lengths until they reach the rolls to preventthem from slackening.

22. In a machine of the class described, a pair of rolls constructed andarranged to unite sheet materialand strand material, and means forforming and supplying continuous strand material to the nip of saidrolls in the 'form of transverse connected straight lengths, saidmachine including means for preventing slackening of said transversestrand lengths during their passage from the point of formation to thenip of the rolls.

23. In a machine of the class described,

the combination of a pair of rolls,-a traversing mechanism having athread guide movable laterally beyond said rolls, andlateral threadengaging means adjacent the ends of the rolls for longitudinally guidingthe bights of thread received from said traversing mechanism. 24. Themethod of making reinforced sheet material, consisting in formingcontinuous strand material intotransverse connected straight lengths,uniting said lengths with sheet material under pressure, and deliveringsaid lengths in uniform taut condition at the point of unitingthem withthe sheet material.

25. The method of making reinforced sheet material, consisting inpropressively inclosing the sheet material in a wrapping of strandmaterial by a rotative movement of one relativelyto the other, unitingthe sheet and strand materials, and holding the strand material undertension until it is united to the sheet material;

26.' The method of reinforcing sheet material with strand material.which consists in rotating one relatively to the other, laying thestrand material upon the outer surface of the sheet material, preventingcollapse of the sheet material by the strand material, uniting thestrand and sheet materials, and holding the strand material undertension until it is united With the sheet material.

27. A machine of the character described comprising means for causingsheet material and strand material to move relatively to each other in adirection to inclose the sheet material in windings of strand mate-.

rial, means for advancing the sheet material in a direction to lay thestrand material spirally relatively to the advancing sheet material,means for uniting the strand material and sheet material, and means forholding the strand material under tension

